Local Architecture Firm Reclaims Historic Downtown in Working with City Share

• email
• facebook
• linkedin
• twitter
• reddit
• google+
• pinterest

Two long­time vacant Down­town Mar­i­on build­ings were pur­chased this year by a promi­nent local archi­tec­ture firm shak­ing things up to rede­vel­op and revi­tal­ize Down­town Mar­i­on. Announced this week, Hal­stead Archi­tects pur­chased the his­toric Mar­i­on Nation­al Bank Build­ing, the tallest build­ing in Down­town (at 402 S. Wash­ing­ton), from its pri­vate own­er in Cal­i­for­nia. The entire build­ing had sat vacant and dete­ri­o­rat­ing after the for­mer owner’s remain­ing ten­ant, Regions Bank, final­ly ter­mi­nat­ed its lease over 3 years ago. Today, the building’s fate is in the hands of new own­er Michael Hal­stead, own­er & founder of Hal­stead Archi­tects, who has plans for a mixed-use devel­op­ment (res­i­den­tial & com­mer­cial) in the 7‑story build­ing. Now with the key, Hal­stead is tak­ing swift action to sta­bi­lize the build­ing. May­or Jess Alum­baugh had encour­aged Hal­stead to buy the build­ing after learn­ing its sale price was dras­ti­cal­ly reduced. Alum­baugh said he’s very excit­ed that the build­ing, which was recent­ly named Indi­ana Land­marks’ Top 10 Most Endan­gered Build­ings, is now in the arms of a proven local developer.

Ear­ly this year, Hal­stead also pur­chased the his­toric Marks Build­ing from the City, which most recent­ly housed Beat­niks that had closed years ago. Hal­stead has been restor­ing the build­ing (at 123 E. 3^rd St.), and is near­ly fin­ished prep­ping the main floor in search for a busi­ness ten­ant. Part­ner, Michelle Doyle, said they are near­ly fin­ished prepar­ing the ​“white box” (move-in ready) 3,000 sq. ft. space, which has court­yard access suit­able for out­door din­ing and spe­cial events nes­tled Down­town. She said they hope a restau­rant or brew­ery leas­es the space for best use. This month, Hal­stead offi­cial­ly set up shop on the 2^nd floor after com­plet­ing ren­o­va­tion. They also cre­at­ed and have already leased out a one-bed­room mar­ket-rate apart­ment behind their office. The firm is hav­ing a rib­bon-cut­ting for their new space through the Cham­ber of Com­merce on Wednes­day, August 22^nd, at 1pm. The pub­lic is invited.

Marks Build­ing Under­go­ing Renovation

Fresh­ly Ren­o­vat­ed & Restored Marks Building

There is unde­ni­able trans­for­ma­tion hap­pen­ing Down­town with sev­er­al oth­er build­ings exchang­ing hands and under­go­ing rede­vel­op­ment. Also announced this week was the pur­chase of the Old Nation­al Bank Build­ing by local busi­ness­man, Bill Reece, for mul­ti-use includ­ing yoga & health­care, a café, and leasable upstairs offices. In recent months, Mar­i­on Hous­ing Author­i­ty has been mak­ing a foot­print down­town with three big pur­chas­es includ­ing the for­mer Hotel Mar­i­on, Cen­trum Mall, and the Sophia Salin Build­ing on the Square. Addi­tion­al­ly, three local entre­pre­neurs recent­ly bought a build­ing from the City and have start­ed repur­pos­ing an old attorney’s office, after it too, sat vacant for many years.